The Chicken At Our Window and Other Discoveries

“Be still and know that I am God.”  Psalm 46:10

Even though we've become friends, I still can't get my hand too close because she may bite me

!

  

The  curious sight of a chicken nestled on the ledge of our bedroom window laying an egg, will certainly cause one to take a few moments to be still and contemplate the fact that God is most assuredly;

“Beautiful beyond description, too marvelous for words, too wonderful for comprehension; like nothing ever seen or heard.  Who can grasp his infinite wisdom who can fathom the depths of his love?”  Truly, it causes my soul to be in awe of Him.  Isn’t amazing how God can use a plain ordinary chicken to stir our hearts to worship?

The chicken arrived at The Villages of Hope last month as a gift for me by the grandmother of one of the children that live at the village.  As it was presented to me, I saw that it was tied up neatly in a basket quietly awaiting its fate.  We untied it and let it walk around as we considered whether we should eat it that day or wait a few days.  While I was certainly appreciative of the sacrificial gift, I really wasn’t feeling up to the task of beheading, defeathering, disemboweling, and dismembering the creature.  So, we let the chicken walk around and become familiar with its surroundings.  I tried to resist the temptation to give her a name because then we may become attached and it would be difficult to make a meal out of her, but I gave in and named her Maizy.  After some days, I noticed that Maizy had developed a very regular routine of rising at 5:50am, foraging for food until around 10a, climbing onto our bedroom window to rest for about an hour and lay an egg, forage for food until 6pm and then climb into the tree outside of our window to sleep.

Whenever Maisy appeared at the window to rest, it was inevitably during the time that I was having my Bible study time at my desk.  I was able to look at her very closely and marvel at God's handiwork.  I even discovered that when a chicken blinks, its eyelid goes up and covers the eye instead of coming down like mine does. Wow God!

See what kind of discoveries can be made when time is taken to be still?  Here are some other delightful discoveries that I made while taking a moment to sit and talk with some of the children from the village as they were preparing to visit relatives over the school holiday.  The conversation began in this way:

Sharpie:  ""Auntie Kimberly do you know how to kill a hyena in the bush?

Me:  No Sharpie, I can't say that I do.....do you?

Sharpie:  Yes, I do!  You have to make a gun out of branches and shoot it with monkey oranges!

Me: Oh my! Really!  Where should I try to aim for, its head?

Sharpie:  Anywhere, just shoot the monkey oranges and if it hits the hyena it will really hurt it!

And so began a very intriguing discussion on various hunting methods of creatures found in the African bush.  I learned from several of the children the following helpful information:

• Baboons are very, very bad.  They can snatch the slingshot out of your hand and use it on you!  They also throw rocks.  The best way to deal with them is to trap them in a tree and then set fire to the tree so that they can't get away.
• When hunting for mice to eat,  I will need a bucket, maize and some water and string (I think).  Anyway, I was advised that I could catch a lot of mice using this method as long as I set it up correctly.  Also, I have to be aware of a certain type of mouse that makes it difficult to catch a lot of mice because this mouse won't let the other ones inside of the bucket trap, because it wants to eat the maize for itself.
• There is a type of squirrel that I need to watch out for.  It is a chicken eating squirrel that can eat quite a few chickens over a period of a few days.  I will need to catch it quickly otherwise it can completely steal all of my chickens and I won't have any left.  (This is important for me to know I realize, because I wouldn't want Maizy to be in danger.  I feel grateful for this tip.).  When the squirrel is caught, it can be eaten.  It tastes a lot like chicken.

Well, I feel a little more confident about my survival skills should I find myself stranded in some of the remote areas surrounding our village!

On a different note, We are looking forward to the visit of my sister and brother-in-law in two days.  They will stay for two weeks and  we will be returning with them on the 29th of this month.  It has been three years since our last visit to the US and we are excited about seeing many of you, especially in the Delaware, Maryland, and Washington D.C. area.  We will be visiting for the months of October and November, so please keep a look out for us if you are able!

We would like to invite you to pray with us about the following:

• Safe travel to and from the US
• Many opportunities for fellowship and sharing what God has been doing in your lives and ours.
• That God would provide a vehicle for our temporary use.
• Pray for Dick Mumba as he will be assuming many of Kamau's responsibilities while we are away.
• Pray for Ben & Kathleen as this will be a busy time for them as well.
• Praise God for touching the hearts of His people in providing the funds necessary to replace more than double the amount of chickens that were lost in the fire!

Thank You, thank you!! 

May God's peace and grace rest on you as you take time to be still and let Him delight you heart with fresh new discoveries!

The Kamaus

The Good,The Burned, and The Roasted!!!

Dear Ones,

 

August started beautifully!  The cold season making way for the warm, but windy and dusty season!   At the Village of Hope, the children have been out for the school break! We were also hosting visitors from a church in Wisconsin. 

For some time now, the missionary families have been praying about reaching out to the neighboring villages and also introducing our children on how to share the message of Christ to others. We decided August was a good time to begin this effort. Our outreach focus was going to be the neighboring Aralussa Farm village, with plenty of time on our hands, we all decided to prepare and rehearse for the outreach!  

Rehearsing for the outreach

These involved skits, games, choreographed praise and worship dance music, setting up and tearing down of the various activity stations for the big day!!! It was such fun and we were all excited because this was the first time that we were taking our children to another village for outreach.

David and Sharpie came to watch the rehearsals, but they were deeply involved in their knitting!

Finally the big day arrived! We loaded up the tractor with all of us wearing bright yellow shirts and made the short drive to the Aralussa Farm! It was such a delight to watch our kids witness as they shared the message of the sower and the seed through the skit and narrative!  There were about 80 children who attended from two villages.  Many had never seen anything like this and especially done by their fellow kids!   They were very orderly and heartily participated in the various activities.

Annette and Tereshina enjoying themselves!

Please pray that God’s word which was sowed in their hearts will take root and awaken a desire to know him more!  We would also like to follow up and disciple the children on a regular basis and we hope as the invitation is extended, that this will become a reality. This is was the good part!

Dick Mumba leading a praise and worship time

Shadrach Paul and Nelson with balloons!

Children attending the event playing one of the games

Now for the challenging part! 

Wednesday August 24^th began just like any other beautiful Zambian day! Little did we know that before the day was over, we would be stretched and confounded in more ways than one!    A little after 1:00 pm; someone noticed smoke rising from the neighboring farm close to the highway, before we had sufficient time to organize ourselves, a gust of August wind kicked in and the little flame very quickly became a gigantic inferno that furiously ate up everything in its path and spread into our farm. It reached the chicken coop where we have our layers and those of us who were at the village fighting the fire did not know until after the fire what had really happened.

 The fire then headed towards the school; we quickly drove there and to our relief found that although the fire was very close, the little fire guard in place would protect it. Because of the tall elephant grass, the fire was several feet high and propelled by the wind, it very quickly got into the village!  We fought it using branches as no water was readily available!   We prayed and asked the Lord to please bring the fire down and cause the wind to cease!   After a while the fire burned itself out and we now could pause and assess the carnage! 

Mr. Bwanga removing chickens from the scorching debris

We soon found out that of the 265 layers, 247 had completely burned up! The 18 which had survived were scattered near other buildings.  We salvaged what we could and were appalled by our loss but grateful that no people were hurt and that apart from the chicken coop, no other buildings had been damaged.  I realize for those of you who have never been to Zambia, you may perhaps be wondering, why did you not call the fire brigade? I wish it were that easy!  But we live in a rural setting and for many of us a fire truck is something of a novelty.

We were all standing around stunned by swiftness of the fire and the damage it caused.

Some of the surviving chickens, no doubt traumatized by their harrowing experience!

We decided to give away the burnt chickens to the staff and sell the rest to a neighboring village.

Where there are chickens there are rats!!!  They were weak and disoriented from the smoke and fire, which made them easy to exterminate!

It goes without saying that roasted chicken was on the menu for all of the Villages of Hope and the neighboring Nyrienda Village.  Actually, we believe that those who had acquired the chickens that we sold were so busy eating them that we didn't even hear blaring music from the taverns that night!  Hey! that is a good thing!

Grateful to our Lord,

The Kamaus 

(Nelson & Paul)

Greetings to Everyone!

As we approach the end of this month the weather is still cold, but our hearts were certainly warmed by the visit of a team of four from Colorado. It was a small group but they certainly provided a great deal of much needed assistance in various areas, for which we are very grateful.

One of the goals that we have at the Village of Hope is to raise children who will be able to boldly share their faith in Jesus Christ with their generation. Recently, Kimberly began to hold a training class for Nelson and Paul to instruct them in how to share the Gospel, teach Bible lessons, and participate in other teaching activities within Hope Club. Her background with Child Evangelism Fellowship has once again proved to be very useful in helping to prepare young people to become involved in missions.

All of us were delighted with the colorful teaching of Mark, one of the team members. He used balloon sculpture and Gospel illusion to captivate the attention of children and adults alike!

In these pictures, Mark is giving us instruction in how to make balloon sculptures and teaching ideas as we prepare for ministry in surrounding villages.
We were also able to have sewing instruction for some of the girls and caregivers at the Village of Hope and also the Chimwemwe Ladies Club. Verla showed them how to operate the machines and to make bags, shorts, and skirts. All of the students were very enthusiastic and it was truly a joy to see!

(Verla with Malaika, Namakau and Mary S.)

(Malaika making a bag)

(Matilda working on a sewing project)

Towards the beginning of the year, guitar instruction began at the village with three students! Here is Brighton hard at work on a musical piece he is learning.
The chicken pox and mumps are still making their rounds at the village. Here are some of the sufferers of chicken pox, Maggie and Joyce with anti-itch calamine lotion decorating their faces, arms and legs.
Using what we learned from attending the Foundations For Farming conference in farming God's way, we have been busy collecting natural materials just laying around the property so that we could make our own compost. In these pictures the children are engaged in picking up cow manure. As you can see, it was an unpleasant task but they willingly went about it without complaining!

(Standing by the pile of manure for our compost)

When all the materials were gathered, we began to make our compost. We made repeated layers of grasses and leaves that had been cut when they were green, sticks, dry grasses and leaves, and manure and then added water to the cube of materials. It will take about eight weeks for it to be ready. We are really excited about the idea of using this compost to enrich our soil for maize and other vegetables. This will teach our children that it is not necessary to depend on the store-bought, high cost chemical fertilizers, (which damage the soil over time) and hybrid seed to grow crops.

(Working together to make the compost pile)

Here is the completed pile! We will turn it about once a week so that it can decompose properly.

So, as you can see, these few weeks have been a delightful time of teaching others new skills and learning many helpful and fun things!

May the grace of God and His peace rest on you!


The Kamaus

(Esther and John at at a special Hope Club party)

(The excitement of tasting ice cream for the first time for most of the children, thanks to our visitors Kayla and Sarah who treated us to the cold confection at Hope Club)

(On June 16th we were viewing a lunar eclipse with the children.)

Of Witches, Mumps and Pox, Oh my!

...From Kamau

Greetings friends! I trust this finds you all doing well! From what we’ve heard, you have been experiencing a sizzling hot summer season especially in the East Coast! Here in Zambia, the months of June and July are usually our winter season and yes it has been getting cold late in the evening and especially early mornings’ but it has none the less been a rather warm winter which is unusual.

You in the Northern Hemisphere may find it hard to believe, but it really does get cold in Zambia to a point where I have been forced to wear several layers of clothes to stay warm. The house we live in has a tin roof and no ceiling such that when its get cold, the only solution is to dress up and go to bed early. Now during the hot months, the opposite is true! The same tin roof gets so hot you feel like you are broiling slowly.

Now about those pesky witches! This is one of those things which as an African I really find aggravating! Especially when I witness the strong spiritual, emotional and mental bondage many are subjected to including some believers! It especially get me riled up when I see the adamant rejection of the care of a medical doctor because the person or the family of the patient believes that the illness has nothing to do with normal sickness which any person born of flesh may suffer, but a belief that someone has cast a spell or that out of jealously, the patient has been bewitched and therefore medical science has nothing to offer.

This was our experience recently when one of our workers became seriously ill and we decided to take him to hospital. He was admitted into the local district hospital but a few days later, his wife and his brother came to see me and told me that the patient was being transferred to the national hospital for more specialized care and they therefore need money to help facilitate this transfer. They were given the funds but several days later, they came back and said they needed yet more money! I was confused and thought perhaps we were having a communication barrier, because as far as I knew the transfer to the national hospital and already been effected! I don’t speak their particular language and so I asked one of the staff to translate. It finally came out that they needed the funds to pay a witch doctor who I was told was treating the patient! I got so angry and told and them there was no way we were going to take money God’s people have provided to pay for the services of a witchdoctor!

The whole story eventually surfaced and I found out that lies had been told; the district hospital had not really transferred the patient but the family had decided to remove the patient from the district hospital and taken him to a witchdoctor in the village because they had decided that what he was suffering from was not a “normal illness” but that he had been bewitched and therefore the only way he could be cured was through “traditional means.” They were heard to say that they had seen a witchdoctor and that the witch had actually shown them on a “screen” the persons who had bewitched their loved one. According to the family the people responsible for the “bewitchment” were the patient’s two co-workers who out of jealousy had done this terrible deed.

Now, being accused of practicing witchcraft is a very serious charge in Zambia! People accused of bewitching others have been killed and sometimes burned alive in their grass huts! Killings of people suspected of witchcraft occurred recently in a place called Mansa. You can therefore appreciate the deep hurt and pain our two workers were experiencing not to mention the danger inherent at such an accusation. The two threatened to report this matter to the police in order to be accorded protection and help guard their reputation. When we as management found out that the family had removed the patient from the hospital, we decided to step in and do whatever was necessary to help him access medical care. We paid a visit to the home of the worker’s parents in the village to plead with them to allow us to take him to a good hospital. We found the worker lying on a mattress on the ground very weak and emaciated; he could barely see or talk. We were informed he had not eaten for days nor used the bathroom. After some discussion, the family agreed to let us take him to the hospital, we took him to a private hospital where we were sure he would get proper care and attention. The doctors at the well equipped Egyptian Orthodox Hospital very quickly diagnosed him with TB which is a treatable disease. He was there for almost a week and was beginning to eat and get stronger when he suddenly took a turn for the worse and died. He was only 27 yrs. He left behind his wife and two children, one a very young baby. The cause of death was listed as respiratory failure and TB. NOT witchcraft! But a treatable illness! I can’t help but wonder if he would be alive today had he been able to access thorough medical attention much earlier instead of a dalliance with primitive and hollow remedies.

Here at the children’s home, we have faced our own challenges with chicken pox among some of the children and an outbreak of mumps. Four of our children in the same house tested positive for mumps and just last week, two other children from a different house also tested positive! We hope it doesn’t get out of control; we are trying not to panic! (Did I hear witchcraft!!!) Just joking! I am reliably informed that this illness is particularly bad for boys and especially older men! Boy, am I glad I have 44 children!

May God's peace and grace rest upon you!

The Kamaus

Bwanji! Dear Ones,

In case you are wondering why everyone in this picture is dressed in fancy wear, it is because we all attended a wedding this past Sunday! One of the teachers at our School of Hope, Bruce Malowa wed his bride Alice and we were invited guests!

All of the children were so excited to be able to attend and get dressed up for the day.

Nelson, Shaibu and Isaac were feeling very debonair!

Kimani and Malaika

Here is a picture of the happy couple, although the picture does not reflect their joy! In Zambia, especially in rural settings, the wedding couple is expected to be very serious and somber even. This was really a culture shock for us because we are used to beaming smiles and laughter and if there are tears, they are clearly tears of joy!




Teacher Bruce's grade seven class was permitted to attend the reception. In this picture the children are watching the wedding party dance their way to the bridal table.
It was a very long day as we waited for the the bride and groom to arrive, watch various processionals, listen to the Pastor preach, witness the saying of the marriage vows, and prayers for the couple. Docklin took a moment to walk around and take a peek out of the window to see what else might have been happening outside!


Do you remember the maize that we planted using Farming God's Way? Well here are some of the children harvesting our crop! We are now learning how to make organic compost so that we can enrich our soil in preparation for the next planting season.

New arrivals at the Villages of Hope!! No, not children this time, but dairy cows! Shaibu and Joe are learning how to milk them in this picture.
When the milk has been collected, the children deliver them to the houses scheduled to receive milk for that day.

In March of this year, our nephew, Kamale, ( 3rd from left) from Kenya, came to live with us and attend school in Zambia. Also in this picture are our friends from Kenya, Anne and Lawrence and their two children who were visiting with us for two weeks.

Anne and Lawrence played some very interesting games with the children that helped to develop their thinking and communication skills. Actually we all enjoyed playing them!

All in all, the month of April, which is one of the months that children are out of school, was pretty quiet for us. Several of the children went away to visit relatives during this holiday time.
We are grateful that everyone returned safely and settled back into their regular routine. School begins today!
Please remember the newlyweds in your prayers for the Villages of Hope!

God's Grace & Peace rest on you,

The Kamaus

Kamau Family Update

Hello Everyone!

Recently, we received an end of the year update from one of our friends and it was such a pleasure to read how their sons were growing and developing their own interests. It kept them on our minds for days!

We thought that you might want to find out what the four us have been doing or thinking about individually over the past year. (This does not include the cats, although they have certainly been up to quite a bit of mischief and who can tell what kind of dark thoughts are swirling around in their minds! But we are sure you are not interested in hearing about their shenanigans!)

To start with however, we thought you might be interested in a wildlife update. Do some of you remember back in the seventies and eighties when the news reports were full of warnings about killer bees from Africa making their way to the United States? There were even some made for television movies about savage swarms of bees terrorizing unsuspecting people!

Well, we don't know if the fiendish buzzing insects ever made it to the US, but they have certainly been making themselves at home right here at the Villages of Hope. Their latest sojurn being a tree next to our house. We took a picture of the teeming mass because we thought you might enjoy looking at them. :-)

(We all agreed, except for Kamau of course, that this disturbing image can certainly cause many nights of unwelcome nightmares!)

After about two days they left and were spotted fighting with some other bees. This is what we were told by some of the children in the village, who seem to be quite knowledgeable about all the goings on in our little village!

(Here is Rafiki, the newest member of our family, who is very friendly as his Swahili name indicates, but at times exhibits some sociopathic tendencies. We like him though.)

From Kimberly:

Lately, it has been my joy to take time in personally developing as one of the worship leaders in our church. We have four teams which are led by Kathleen, Dick, Rose C. and myself. I had always been very nervous about playing my guitar in front of groups of people, (maybe this stemmed from a time years ago when I was playing and the guitar slid off of my lap.) I really hated the struggle because I felt like it was not honoring the Lord to be so concerned of my potential embarrassment and what people might be thinking. After all, He doesn't mind if my voice cracks or if I play a wrong chord or if the guitar winds up on the floor during praise and worship. He is concerned about the attitude of my heart before him. So I have been learning how to freely come before the Lord in worship and focus on what makes him wonderful and helping others to enter into worship as well. Whenever I have free time it is usually spent practicing worship songs and classical music styles on the guitar or reading.

I really love teaching, whether it is Kimani and Malaika in our homeschool and taking great delight in finding activities that will help them learn in fun ways or in Hope Club teaching God's Word to our children. Earlier this month, I began teaching guitar to Mary B., Brighton, and Joe. I am excited at the thought of how the Lord will use everything that they are learning for His glory!

This year I am hoping to also begin teaching several children at the Villages of Hope how to share their faith in Jesus Christ with others and also to train them how to teach Bible lessons to other children. Please pray that God will show me which children to begin with and that I will be faithful and consistent in instructing them.

Feeling Joyful,

Kimberly




From Kamau:

As I recall the years that the mission committee met in our home in Delaware and prayed for Southern Sudan, I am very excited and grateful to God. I am so encouraged to witness how God has so graciously answered those prayers. Just this month, the referendum for the independence of Southern Sudan was held and it passed with an whelming majority. The South will officially become the newest independent country in world in July of this year! After more than 20 years of war and oppression, finally a breakthrough has sprung forth! God is indeed faithful and he does answer prayer!

As my church in Delaware continues to pursue a piece of land where we can build a home church, I can vividly remember how for years we have prayed and petitioned the Lord for this vision to became a reality in our time. There are times we despaired and did not see how this could possibly happen, but just like Elijah after a three year drought in Israel, I can see a little cloud on the horizon and I ask myself, Lord, is this it? Is this the time that our long wait and prayers will finally be realized? Will this land we are now pursuing be the answer to our years of prayer? I can only hope and continue to pray and remind myself, that our God is gracious and indeed faithful! He has done it for the people of Southern Sudan in answer to the prayers of God's people, perhaps at GEFC, now is our time!

Now, many of you who know me are aware that I have not been one to take a great interest in farming. Actually, I have found this occupation to appear rather dreary apart from when I am eating farm produce! Of late however, I have suddenly become very curious about this noble profession after observing Mark Wenham, our farmer friend from Zimbabwe, teach about farming God's way and witnessing the results of the demonstration patch that we began last November.

I find my self looking forward to a trip we are taking to Zimbabwe in March to attend a Foundations in Farming conference and field demonstration that will present principles from the Word of God and apply them to farming. I do not know why, in my late forties, there is now this interest, but who knows, maybe with all of the children who have entered our lives, God may want me to learn how to grow and provide food security for them now and in the future!

Ready to learn new things,

Kamau

(At first, learning the guitar seemed so hard, but now I feel good that I can play some nice pieces of music!)

From Malaika:

Dear Friends,

I'm ten years old and I'm in the 4th grade. I like soccer but the boys in the village barely even pass the ball to me. I really, really like school, but sometimes I don't like school. I play guitar and sometimes the recorder. We have two cats and one of them is named Rafiki, which means "friend" Kiswahili. This is the language that Kenyans in Africa speak. I am learning that language and I'm learning how to type. It's fun. I am also learning about American History and I like it. I am sometimes homesick for the United States, although I have my brother and my parents and cats to cheer me up. We went to Kenya in 2010. It was fun. I got to visit my cousins there and we stayed with some friends for awhile. While I was in Kenya we went to a restaurant called "Carnivore," and I ate different types of meat. The new things that I ate were ostrich meat and crocodile meat. It was tasty.

Bye for now!

Malaika

(I am so excited about learning chess. I had been waiting a long time for my mom to teach me! Now I am waiting to learn some strategies so that I will be able to beat my brother and play my grandfather one day!)

(Malaika, Kamau & Kimani visiting friends in Kenya last year.)

(Here I am at one of my favorite places!)

From Kimani:

Habari Zenu!

That is how you say "hello" to more than one person in the language of Kiswahili. How are you? I miss you all so much.

I am twelve years old now and I am in the sixth grade. Here is an update on what I have been doing and some things I like to do. I still love reading, and I love playing the guitar and hanging out with our two cats Orlando and Rafiki. I also really like math and I am enjoying learning about physics. Computers really interest me! We have a drawing and computer programming program which my sister and I use to draw cartoons and animate them. It is really fun!

We're learning how to speak Kiswahili because, I mean, we are part Kenyan and we thought it would be a good idea to learn it.

Well, goodbye! Or in Kiswahili, "Kwaheri!"

Sincerely,

Kimani

( And here I am doing one of my favorite things!)

Well, we hope you have enjoyed our personal update!

With much gratitude for you all,

The Kamau Family